In the wake of two rounds of flooding and destruction, residents in Trenton and Hightstown pick up the pieces

In the past two weeks, area residents and businesses have faced the double whammy of a hurricane and a tropical storm, downpours that led to basement bailouts, and evacuations, as rain pelted the area and floodwaters rose.

But for many along the Delaware River and other flood-prone waterways, life has generally returned to normal.

In Hightstown, where Peddie Lake spilled over into downtown Main Street at the height of Hurricane Irene, all but a handful of businesses have reopened. More than $2,000 has been collected through fundraisers and donations to offset flood damage.

“The town is definitely back up and running for sure,” said Amanda Porter, co-chair of Downtown Hightstown Inc.

Cappy Stults, owner of Allen & Stults insurance company, hopes to reopen the first floor of his Main Street business in the next month.

He was able to move desks, paperwork and employees up to the building’s second and third floors, but the first floor was inundated with up to 3 feet of water during Irene.

“We’ve had storms. Even a couple times, as a precaution, I did some sandbags, but I’ve never even come close to anything like this,” he said.

Stults estimates the damage at $100,000.

But other business owners continue to wait on insurance adjusters, and residents whose homes sustained damage keep an eye on the ongoing congressional fight over federal disaster funds.
Sumeet Desai calls it the waiting game.

A co-owner of the Sleep-E-Hollow Motel on Route 1 in Lawrence, Desai and his family have been cleaning out the motel since waters from the Assunpink Creek came crashing into rooms during Irene, soaking furniture, carpets, bedding and electronics.

The rooms have been stripped and hosed down, and the walls have been treated with steam and bleach to prevent mold from setting in. Now, the co-owners are just waiting for their insurance agents to inspect and process their claim.

“Once the adjusters come we can go through and buy new furniture, carpets, TVs, pictures and then proceed to getting the business back open again,” Desai said. “It’s just waiting, that’s all.”

New Jersey Manufacturers, one of the state’s largest insurance companies, has already paid out $12.5 million to policyholders affected by the recent flooding. Claims for another 12,000 policyholders are still being processed.

As of yesterday, 870 Mercer County residents had applied for aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Lawmakers in Washington are currently wrangling over providing another $7 billion in FEMA aid for disaster-stricken victims.

In Trenton, life on The Island section has calmed down since the hurried evacuations last Thursday morning, the second that residents experienced in a week and a half.

Columbia Avenue resident Ernie P. Ball spent the weekend getting 2 feet of water out of his basement. His main concern now is making sure the new hot water heater that replaced one destroyed in the flood is up and running.

“I’ll get that going whichever way I have to before winter sets in,” he said.

Most residents were able to return to the neighborhood Friday night, and all were back by Saturday, when the city’s emergency shelter was deactivated. Damage was minimal, especially when compared to the thrashing that South Trenton neighborhoods got during Hurricane Irene.

But city officials admitted they were caught off guard by what they said was an unexpectedly quick rise in the Delaware River that sent city police rushing to The Island to remove residents even as water crept up through the storm drains.

Last week, Mayor Tony Mack and his department heads found themselves explaining to residents of The Island why they were caught flat-footed.

“Monitoring this water is not an exact science,” fire director Qareeb Bashir said Friday. “It’s very, very difficult to do.”

Following complaints of miscommunication between the administration and residents during Irene, Island residents complained they were not given enough advance warning to leave their homes.

“What was upsetting to me, and I don’t know how much they control, but the notification was done differently than in the past,” said Betty Savage, who has lived in the section since 1985 and remembers the floods of 2004, 2005 and 2006.

The Delaware River crested at 23.11 feet Thursday afternoon, just shy of the 23.41 feet in September 2004.

The city put out a warning Wednesday night saying the river was projected to rise to 20.8 feet, but the forecasts were in flux.

“Basically, what was taking place was we were looking at it and it changed a couple times,” Bashir said.

Floodwater rose little throughout the night, but began rising around 6 a.m. Thursday.

To prevent floodwaters from creeping up again in the middle of the night, Bashir said he was drafting a general order that would require chiefs on duty to make visual inspections of the river during their shifts, and to monitor the National Weather Service website.

“I’ll honestly say that wasn’t done (last week),” Bashir said.

“One thing we do know is if it rains hard again, this will happen,” Mack said Friday.